Erectopus
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213160856
2008-05-18T01:46:51Z
PipepBot
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robot Adding: [[pl:Erektopus]]
{{taxobox
| name=Erectopus
|
| regnum = [[Animal]]ia
| phylum = [[Chordate|Chordata]]
| classis = [[Reptile|Sauropsida]]
| superordo = [[Dinosaur]]ia
| ordo = [[Saurischia]]
| subordo = [[Theropoda]]
| infraordo = [[Carnosauria]]
| superfamilia = [[Allosauroidea]]
| genus = '''''Erectopus'''''
| species = '''''E. superbus'''''
| binomial = ''Erectopus superbus''
| binomial_authority = [[Friedrich von Huene|Heune]], [[1932]]
}}
'''''Erectopus''''' is an [[allosauroid]] [[theropod]] from the [[Lower Cretaceous]] of [[France]]. The material comprising the type series was discovered in the late [[19th Century]] from the Phosphate-bearing beds of La Penthèive (''Mammilatum'' Zone; lower [[Albian]]) at Louppy-le-Château in eastern France, which have also produced remains of [[plesiosaur]]s, [[ichthyosaur]]s, and [[crocodile]]s. The bones originally resided in the private collections of Louis Pierson and were first described by H. E. Sauvage in [[1882]]. It was Sauvage who made them the basis for a new [[taxon]], ''[[Megalosaurus]] superbus.'' In [[1932]], the material was redescribed by [[Friedrich von Huene]] (1875-1969), who argued that it could not be included within the [[genus]] ''Megalosaurus'' and placed the Pierson theropod in a second new taxon, ''Erectopus sauvagei.'' Subsequently, the Pierson collection was dispersed after the death of its owner and the [[holotype]] was long believed lost to science. However, casts of some of the bones have been located in the [[Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle]] (MNHN, [[Paris]]), and the anterior part of a left [[maxilla]], described by Sauvage in 1882, was found through a Parisian fossil dealer in the late [[20th Century]] and purchased by Christian de Muison, a [[paleontologist]] at the MNHN. The casts and the incomplete maxilla allowed for a reevaluation of ''Erectopus'' (Allain, [[2005]]), which determined that the correct [[taxonomic]] name for the material is ''E. superbus''. The recovered maxilla has been designated a [[lectotype]], and the casts of Pierson's specimen has become the plastotype for the taxon. The plastotype includes a partial right manus, the left [[femur]], left [[calcaneum]], the [[proximal]] and [[distal]] halves of the right [[tibia]], and right [[metatarsal]] II. The etymology of ''Erectopus'' is based on the structure of the foot ([[Latin]] ''erectus'' = "upright" + [[Greek language|Greek]] ''pous'' = "foot").
Based on the [[morphology (biology)|morphology]] of the [[distal]] end of the tibia and the inferred morphology of the [[talus bone|astragalus]], Allain (2005, p. 83) placed ''Erectopus superbus'' within the [[Allosauroidea]] and regarded it as [[carnosaur]]ian. It is the third youngest carnosaur known from the [[Europe]]an Lower Cretaceous, after the "Montmirat theropod" (Valangian) of southern France and ''[[Neovenator]] salerii'' ([[Barremian]]) from the [[Isle of Wight]].
==Diagnosis==
Allain (2005 pp. 75-76) diagnoses ''Erectopus superbus'' as follows: "Rounded anterior ramus of maxilla; slender neck of femur; posterior curvature of proximal half of femur; anterodorsal edge of calcaneum dorsally projected; calcaneum twice as long as deep vertically; posteromedial process of for tibia on articular surface of astragalus; length of second metatarsal equal to half the length of femur; lateral margin of proximal end of second metatarsal regularly concave."
==References==
*Allain, R. 2005. The enigmatic theropod dinosaur ''Erectopus superbus'' (Sauvage, 1882) from the Lower Albian of Louppy-le-Château (Meuse, France). in Carpenter, K. 2005. ''The Carnivorous Dinosaurs'', Indiana University Press: 72-86.
*Huene, F. 1926. The carnivorous Saurischia in the Jura and Cretaceous formations, principally in Europe. ''Revista del Museo de la Plata'' 29: 35-167.
*Huene, F. 1932. Die fossile Reptil-Ordnung Saurischia, ihre Entwicklung und Geschichte. ''Monographien zur Geologie und Palaeontologie'', ser. 1: 1-361.
*Sauvage, H. E. 1882. Recherches sur les reptiles trouvés dans le Gault de l'est du Bassin de Paris. ''Mémoires de la Société géologique de France 4: 439-442.
{{portalpar|Dinosaurs}}
[[Category:Carnosaurs]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs of Europe]]
[[Category:Cretaceous dinosaurs]]
[[es:Erectopus]]
[[fr:Erectopus]]
[[it:Erectopus superbus]]
[[pl:Erektopus]]
[[zh:挺足龙]]